Alabama

Southern Mississippi goals are still intact

HATTIESBURG -- After a much-needed week off, Southern Miss climbs back into Conference USA play against Marshall on Saturday with its hopes of winning the East Division title still alive.

Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, they will be playing the Thundering Herd on the road, where they've had absolutely no luck this season.

Southern Miss (5-4, 3-2) has won all five of its games at Roberts Stadium this year, but is 0-4 away from home with two of the losses coming in league play.

"We went back and broke down each and every (road) game, and it was something different every game," said USM coach Larry Fedora. "We feel like we're still playing good football.

"It's not like we go on the road and don't play good football. There was one game where we didn't play well, but the others we just didn't finish in the fourth quarter. We've got to do that."

USM's road losses have been at then No. 20-ranked Kansas, at UAB, at Louisville and at No. 13 Houston two weeks ago. The Golden Eagles were in position to win three of the four in the closing minutes.

Southern Miss has suffered two of the losses (Louisville and Houston) since sophomore starting quarterback Austin Davis was lost for the season with torn ankle ligaments, but Fedora made it clear those setbacks couldn't be blamed on junior quarterback Martevious Young.

Young has played well since taking over the starting role. In his four starts, he has completed 65-of-100 attempts for 805 yards with just one interception. In the loss to Louisville, he was 22 of 30 for 229 yards. In the loss to Houston, he was 20 of 34 for 334 yards.

"I think he has done an excellent job of taking care of the football," Fedora said. "I would have to say a B+ or A- in the way he's performed. He's put us in position to be successful in each game that he's started. He's got great arm strength and can make all the throws."

"The thing he's probably done best is manage the game and make sure that he's careful where he goes with (the football). He's only thrown into coverage one time, and that was on fourth down and insignificant at the time."

With Young and the offense playing well -- USM scored 43 points in the loss at Houston -- Fedora doesn't see his team facing an impossible challenge. Two of the Golden Eagles' final three games are on the road.

"We're sitting here in November and all of our goals are still right in front of us," Fedora said. "There are a lot of teams in the country right now that have no chance of reaching their goals."

"We know what has to be done in this stretch. They know we've been here before and can do this and get this done."

Õ TULSA GAME TIME CHANGED: Next week's Southern Miss-Tulsa game at Roberts Stadium has been moved to 6:30 p.m. in order to be televised by CBS College Sports. The game was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. Tulsa will be making its first trip to Hattiesburg since the 2005 season.

Õ SMITH COMMITS: Highly recruited Brandon Smith, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound defensive end/linebacker from Carver (Columbus, Ga.), has decided to play for Southern Mississippi. ESPN ranks him as No. 10 inside linebacker in country. The three-star prospect is the 18th commitment for the Golden Eagles' 2010 class. Commitments are non-binding.